Eclipse and Ratchet
by fieldtriptothevoid
Summary: A compilation of short stories featuring EclipsePrime1's (DeviantArt account) OC, Eclipse, in a father-daughter relationship with Ratchet from Transformers Prime.
1. Chapter 1: Daddy

Arcee, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee were out with their human friends, while the rest of the Autobots were on patrol (even though Smokescreen's patrol consisted pretty much of speeding and getting away with it).

That meant it was only Eclipse and Ratchet left at base.

Eclipse sat on top of a teetering pile of boxes, watching Ratchet tinker with various scraps. The boxes she was sitting on had held materials the government shipped in for Ratchet to use to build… well, _whatever_ he was building. Eclipse wasn't really sure, as his projects were always changing, depending on whatever one could be the most useful in the coming days. She swished her long tail as she watched him weld two pieces of metal together.

It wasn't unusual to see Ratchet engrossed in his work; Eclipse didn't know why she felt the urge to stay with him. The other Autobots had tried to get her to come on patrol with them, but she had simply climbed up onto her perch on the boxes and stayed there until they decided that they should leave her alone. She could feel their cautious sympathy, as it wasn't every day they met a bot like her… a bot that had been tortured and left to die, if it wasn't for the hard work of Team Prime. And even though their sympathy was kind, it left Eclipse feeling rather empty in the spark chamber. The Autobots had good intentions, but that seemed to be all that they had.

Well, excluding Ratchet.

She didn't know why she was so drawn to him. He wasn't exactly the most fatherly figure; he was actually kind of cranky and stuck in his ways. He was also easily the most competent bot of Team Prime, as he was a very good medic, although his demeanor didn't exactly lend itself to the career. His impressive knowledge of Cybertronian systems made him an incredibly important asset to the group. And even though his work sometimes verged into the experimental area, he was as dedicated as anyone to the planet Earth.

 _Experimental…_ The word brought a sour taste to Eclipse's glossa. Those were the days she really didn't want to remember- the countless hours of pain, of suffering, of being nothing more than a vessel for "success" as Scorpio tortured her and her mother, Shadow.

But as hard as she tried, she couldn't help but think back to the dark memories lurking in the depths of her processor. She remembered that fateful day, when the aching feeling in her unfamiliar organs had prompted her to scrounge around for something to eat, when she felt a sort of queasy satisfaction after she had gulped down those tools, and the result that followed: Scorpio's terrifyingly polemical reaction as he beat and screamed at her for eating his precious torture devices, the diatribe that had almost made her give him back the tools in a pool of bile. His vicious tirade had hurt her… but after that main event, she finally got the chance to hurt him back- for _everything_. She remembered the sudden surge of confidence she had felt when Scorpio's damaged servo dangled from her mouth, his energon dripping down her chin, and the burning relief she felt when her appetite for retribution was finally sated. It was called revenge, she knew that now; and even though she felt a comforting finality as Scorpio's lifeless body crumpled to the floor, he still haunted her in her dreams, spawning her paranoia, hiding in the shadowy corners of her powerdowns. Somehow, in her head, he would just _be_ there, whether as a mangled manifestation, two glowing optics, or merely as a bad feeling in the pit of her strange stomach. Sometimes she wouldn't see him for weeks on end, and she almost forgot her fear of him, but then suddenly, as soon as she was making progress, he would spring up again and leave her shaking and whimpering on the concrete floor.

Eclipse's tail began swinging more quickly, her sparkbeat pattering faster as each repressed memory bubbled to the surface. She tapped her digits on the top of the box- a habit she had long ago realized was her subconscious' way of trying to calm down. _Scorpio was a goner_ , she thought, with a guilty lack of conviction; _he can't hurt me now._

Ratchet rose from his worktable and moved across the room, muttering to himself about the lack of intelligent technology the humans had supplied for him. As he walked, Eclipse fascinatedly watched his shadow, the dark blur that followed him around in perpetuity. It was a darkness that was always advancing, always echoing movements, always glued right to his pedes. Wherever the light couldn't stretch its omnipotent fingers, a shadow filled the void. And as stupid as this sounded to Eclipse, she couldn't help but be entranced as the shape reflected every one of Ratchet's diminutive subtleties.

But, out of the corner of her optic, she could've sworn she saw another, very, _very_ , familiar shadow rushing swiftly towards her as Ratchet turned around once again to work.

Eclipse leapt from the tower of boxes in a flurry of shrieks and limbs, toppling to the floor. Her processor was screaming at her to transform, but all she could hear was Scorpio's sadistic laughter as he ran at her with a glinting scalpel.

 _Please! I ended you!_ Her frenzied thoughts shouted. _I don't deserve this-_

"Gotcha!" Ratchet exclaimed as he dove for the falling Eclipse. Her body collided with his arms in a resounding crash as he caught her, bringing her back to reality. She steadied her quaking circuits as she tried to focus on the things in front of her. _Ratchet. The Autobots. Earth._

She shook her head as if to clear it of its contents.

 _No more Scorpio._

Ratchet looked at her with wide optics. "Are you alright, Eclipse?"

Eclipse gulped and nodded, her servos still shaking.

He looked at her with concern. Out of all the Autobots, Ratchet was the one she expected to care the least about her, due to his fervent dislike of change. But for some reason, the old medic seemed to see right through her. And even though he didn't always have the right thing to say, and he wasn't really that huggy, Eclipse felt that he was easily the bot she connected most with.

She wondered if he felt the same way.

Ratchet gave her a look, perhaps an unspoken question as to why she had such an outburst. And Eclipse knew she could tell him what happened. She knew she could trust him. In fact, all she wanted to do was just jump into his arms and cry and let him cheer her up again, like she was still an adorable little sparkling. _His_ adorable little sparkling. But who was she kidding? She was a freak- nobody would think she was cute, and she knew it. Scorpio knew it. Her foreign organs knew it, as did her strange alt mode and the deep gashes in her posterior.

And, she noted with a heavy spark, Ratchet probably knew it too.

She remained silent and averted her optics, hoping to deter his tacit inquiry. She was fooling herself if she thought that he actually wanted to know what went wrong. A long, heavy pause passed between the two as they had their silent exchange. Even so, Eclipse swore she saw some disappointment in Ratchet's optics as he began to speak."Would you like to see what I'm making?"

Eclipse paused. "O-okay," she replied, guiltily issuing an unspoken thank-you to him for not making her divulge the cause of her embarrassing fall.

Ratchet smiled slightly and moved over to his worktable, gesturing for Eclipse to follow him. She did, albeit a little cautiously, because as much as she trusted this dear old mech, certain mechanical experiments brought back memories that caused her to be… _on edge._

"Here we are," Ratchet said as he handed his work of to Eclipse.

It was… _something_.

The spherical object fit neatly into the palm of Eclipse's servo. She turned it over, observing the myriad of multicolored wires that protruded from its side, and the two teeny tiny lenses that were implanted into the top of it. There were small gashes in its side, most likely markings that Ratchet had gouged to make his work of cutting the metal that much easier. Its plating was hastily constructed; that was what Ratchet had just been welding, and he hadn't gotten far enough into the construction to sand the messy edges down to smoothness.

"Do you like it so far?" Ratchet asked expectantly, searching for a reaction on Eclipse's face.

Eclipse turned it over once again, staring into the shining metal. Something about it impressed her. Even though it was unfinished, she could tell that it was crafted by the servos of a skilled and experienced inventor.

That didn't change the fact that she couldn't make heads or tails of it, though.

She could tell Ratchet was growing restless of waiting for her response. "I, um…" She started, for lack of a better explanation.

Eclipse looked down into the object's metal side, trying to buy herself some time to think. She didn't want to offend Ratchet by asking what the device was, especially because she feared he would take it personally, and not as an honest question from a very incompetent person. She couldn't help but fret; not only would Ratchet see her as a freak, he'd see her as a stupid freak. The only thing she could focus on was the fuzzy outline of her dark blue helm and the two halos that were her optics, reflecting back at her from their place in the dusky metal.

But… there was something else there, too…

"EEEK!" Eclipse hurled the device across the room. It hit the wall and fell to the ground with a clatter. She could feel the panic rising in her spark chamber as Ratchet's expression changed from shocked to offended.

He was dumbfounded. "What the slag did you do that for?" he exclaimed, racing over down to the dented object. "Eclipse! I needed that! Why did you-"

He looked around the base and stood up.

"Eclipse?"

Eclipse tore down the road outside of the Autobot base in Jasper, Nevada. Why couldn't she run any faster? She wasn't going anywhere!

With a grimace, she leapt up and transformed into her alt mode, a dark blue metal dragon. Although the pain had lessened greatly from the time she had originally transformed with her new organs, it still was an awfully uncomfortable process that involved much squelching and squeezing in unnatural ways. A silent curse at Scorpio, though, and the pain almost went away.

Almost _._

Eclipse flapped her wings and slowly ascended into the vast sky. She didn't know where she was going to go, but she did know that wherever she ended up, she wanted to get there quickly.

It was much cooler up in the clouds. Condensation coated her wings as she caught an updraft and soared almost vertically into the sky. She felt so free, flying above all the tiny houses. There was no one to judge her, no one to oppress her, no one to tell her what to do- and she loved it. The sky was the only place where she could be alone and be happy about it.

Scorpio couldn't touch her up here.

She hated him now, and she hated herself for still being afraid of him. He was gone- he couldn't hurt her anymore, whether it be through a dream, a shadow, or even a reflection in a… well, whatever that thing was.

Scorpio was gone.

Eclipse did feel a little bad about breaking Ratchet's device, though. She had watched him work tirelessly on it all week, avoiding unnecessary conversation and sorting out wires instead. She still didn't have a clue as to what it was, but she could respect the amount of work that went into it regardless. Ratchet never seemed to stop inventing, even as the other Autobots patrolled and trained and bickered around him. There was something so admirable about his intense concentration- how he could be so calm and absorbed even when there was so much going on. Ratchet somehow had the ability to push away all thoughts and distractions and just… _work_.

Eclipse envied him so much for that. If she could stop thinking about her past, maybe she'd be able to create like he did.

She shivered suddenly, the droplets of water on her wings feeling like ice. The memory of Scorpio was a lingering one, like an awful stench that never went away, even after eons and eons of scrubbing. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't simply wipe the memory away.

As she flew, Eclipse realized that maybe her shivering wasn't completely Scorpio-induced. At her altitude, the temperature had dropped considerably, and the condensation on her body was actually getting close to freezing into little bullets of ice.

She proceeded to circle the sky awkwardly, looking for a place to land among the red rocks. _No, too open. Humans could see me from a mile away. No, too narrow- I don't want to be in a tiny crevice of a canyon. No, too-_ there!

Eclipse folded her wings and dove toward the ground, opening them up again like a parachute just before she landed. Her pedes hit the ground, and she transformed back into bot mode, walking over to sit on a secluded cliff in the sunshine.

She took a few deep, steadying breaths to help her calm down. Scorpio was a shadow- he couldn't touch her here, in the kind world of the sun.

She sat there for a long time, thinking about nothing, contentedly letting herself defrost in the harsh sunlight. It felt _fantastic-_ Eclipse couldn't even remember a time when she felt this relaxed, this uninvolved, this removed from her immense problems. There was nothing to worry about because there was nothing to do. There was nothing to do because there was nothing to worry about.

It was a wonderful fantasy, and a wonderfully false one at that.

Her audio receptors picked up the faint din of a faraway engine. The soft purr of it almost lulled her to sleep, until she realized - too late - that the noise was growing nearer.

She heard the metallic sound of a transformation, and then the steady clunk of pedes as Ratchet moved towards her.

Eclipse's body tensed. Oh Primus, what was she going to say to him? She couldn't just run away again. But she felt so terrible about the device, and she had no doubt that Ratchet would be mad at her for breaking it. He yelled at Bulkhead for destroying his things all the time; all Eclipse could do was to try and brace herself for the coming onslaught of exclamations.

With a sigh, Ratchet settled into a seated position beside her. The two of them stared, wordlessly, off into the sky, each trying to figure out how to word their opinions.

Eclipse was unable to take the pressure of the awkward silence any longer. She opened her mouth to speak. "I-"

"It's okay," Ratchet said, optics still focused on the vast blueness in front of him.

Eclipse turned to look at him, a mixture of surprise and caution on her face. She blinked. _What?_

"No, _really_ , I'm-"

"No, it's fine," he cut her off again, looking in the opposite direction. The space between them grew tense as another long pause filled the air.

Eclipse didn't know what else to say. Ratchet seemed to have read her mind, but the ability wasn't mutual. Why in the world would he decline her apology? She did something wrong- she wanted to let him know that. But even though she tried, he wouldn't let her.

 _Why?_

Ratchet made an odd noise. Eclipse glanced over at him, confused.

The noise grew louder. It was kind of a grating, rusty noise, and it was only until Ratchet stopped shaking and turned around with a wry smile on his face that Eclipse realized the sound was… _laughter_.

Ratchet shook his head good-naturedly. "Y'know, that was going to be a toy for you."

Eclipse's optics widened. A toy? She had smashed a _gift?_ How much worse could this get?

"...So that's why there were little lenses on it," she murmured. _Those must've been supposed to be like optics._

Ratchet turned to look at her. "Yeah."

Eclipse felt the energon rush to her faceplate. Why was she so stupid? That was so _obvious!_

Ratchet began his rusty laughter again as Eclipse mentally kicked herself. She just couldn't seem to do anything reasonable today. "Now," he said, his tone growing more serious, "I have to ask. Why'd you chuck it across the room?"

Eclipse froze. What would he think of her if she told him the truth? She bet she would be a freak in his optics, just like everybody else saw her. They would never say it aloud, of course; the Autobots were too polite to do that. But she knew it now, in a feeling that hit her deep in the spark chamber, that her status and past was the only thing that bred their undying sympathy. If it had been another bot who refused to go on patrol, there was no way they'd let them stay at base. But for her, they made an exception- because she was different, special, in her own _freaky_ way.

 _But,_ she thought, _Ratchet's not like the other Autobots._ Eclipse had felt that way before, but she had just lumped him into her generalization because she was afraid it might be true. But now, as he looked at her with concern that ran so much deeper than just sympathy, she realized that her first instinct had been right.

Ratchet cared about her. He really did. And he wanted her to know that she could trust him with anything.

Their optics met and Eclipse gulped, her throat feeling tight. "I… I…"

Ratchet's kind gaze helped her coax the words out of her voicebox. "I… I thought I saw Scorpio."

She shut her optics and braced herself for the laughter.

But it never came.

Cautiously, she opened her optics. Ratchet hadn't even blinked at her reason, still staring intently at her. "Go on," he said, his eyebrows knitting together in concern. "What did he do?"

Eclipse was shocked. _He isn't laughing._ "He- he- he was just there." She swallowed, the lump bobbing in her throat. _He's still not laughing._ "He was- he was in the shadow- and he was laughing- and then- then he was in the toy- he was right behind me- he…"

Ratchet seemed to understand. "A shadow," he mused. "Is that why you fell off the boxes?"

Eclipse nodded, feeling her optics fill with tears. She clutched her servos together in a futile attempt to make them stop shaking.

Ratchet nodded back at her. "And then in the reflection, too. You saw him in there." He laughed wryly. "Primus, I'd have been just as terrified."

Eclipse jerked her head up. _What?_

Ratchet smiled at her surprise. "I don't know how you do it," he said in admiration. "If someone had done those things to me, like what Scorpio did to you, I'd… I don't think I'd ever be able to spend an hour without screaming." He gulped, a little embarrassed. "Really, Eclipse, I have no idea-"

Eclipse wrapped her arms around him in a sudden embrace, tears spilling over her optics. Ratchet was momentarily stunned, but he soon pulled Eclipse in to his torso in a caring hold.

"He- he-" Eclipse sobbed uncontrollably. "He had- he had a scal- scalpel-" she took a ragged breath- "and then he- he ran at me- and- and-"

"Eclipse…" Ratchet felt himself getting slightly emotional, too. "Eclipse, _shhh_. Shhh, it's okay. Don't worry, don't worry. Scorpio's not going to hurt you."

Eclipse nodded against Ratchet's body, feeling the warmth emanating from his spark. She felt secure here, in his arms, crying like a little sparkling. He was right- Scorpio _wasn't_ going to hurt her. Not here, not ever.

"I won't let him hurt you," Ratchet said quietly. And somehow, even though the statement was so simple and terse, it made Eclipse feel safe, as if she had finally found the solace she had been searching for her whole life.

Her weeping slowed to small sniffles. _Scorpio can't hurt me. Ratchet will be there to protect me from him._

Eclipse let out a shaky sigh, the last of her tears falling from her optics. She rested her head on Ratchet's chest. "I love you, daddy."

Ratchet froze, his arms becoming stiff and awkward around Eclipse. The content smile on Eclipse's faceplate became replaced with a look of embarrassed shock as she suddenly realized what she had just said.

She pulled away from the hug quickly. _Scrap! What are you doing, Eclipse?_ "I mean- um-"

She looked away, trying to think. _Daddy. Daddy! Why in the world did you have to say daddy?_ "Ummmmmmmm…"

Eclipse slowly looked back up at Ratchet, her face glowing with humiliation. She wasn't sure how she was going to get out of this one when suddenly, she realized that Ratchet's astonished expression had changed to a small (albeit somewhat confused) smile.

They locked optics for a brief moment.

Ratchet pulled Eclipse back into a sudden embrace. "I love you too, my daughter," he said, planting a kiss on her helm.

And finally, for the first time in her life, Eclipse didn't feel like a freak.


	2. Chapter 2: My Shiny!

The other bots were always making remarks about how quiet and sweet and shy Eclipse was, especially considering what she had been through in the past.

Of course, they never got the chance to see what she was like when they went on patrol.

"Don't touch that," Ratchet snapped, batting Eclipse's servo away from his wrench. "I need it."

"But you're not even using it," Eclipse whined, her servo twitching. "And it's so- it's so _shiny_ , too."

"I will be using it in a second," Ratchet muttered. "And when I do, it might just _accidentally_ hit you in the head."

Eclipse huffed and backed away, watching as Ratchet used the sparkling tool to twist a nut and bolt into the side of whatever metal thingamabob he was tinkering with now. What it was didn't really matter to her.

What moment would be perfect to snatch that shiny wrench away from Ratchet was of greater concern.

Eclipse circled Ratchet's workspace. The medic was muttering to himself, kneeling down on the floor of the Autobot base to get better leverage. His back was to her; he was completely oblivious to her slow approach to his position, utterly engrossed in his work.

She tiptoed behind him, watching his movements observantly. Her optics widened with glee as he set the wrench down on the table beside him, grabbing another tool instead.

Eclipse smiled.

Ratchet grumbled to himself. "And if I just pull this out here... And tighten this one here... And- oh, I need my welder," he sighed, standing up. "Eclipse, can you get that for me?"

There was a pause as Ratchet waited for a response. "Eclipse?"

Ratchet's audio receptors picked up some faraway laughter. Sighing, he finally looked up.

"Eclipse, where are you? I need my welder. I think I might've put it in one of the storage closets- Hey, where'd you run off to?"

Ratchet stood up, surveying the empty base. "Where are you? And- wait, where'd my wrench go?"

Eclipse's giggles echoed throughout the base. "Come and find me!"

Ratchet rolled his optics. He didn't want to chase her now; he had important work to do.

 _Important work,_ he thought, _but it still requires both a wrench and a welder._

Ratchet sighed and shook his head. "Alright, Eclipse. I'm coming to get you."

Eclipse snickered. "Okay, Daddy, but I bet you can't find me!"

"We'll see about that."

Okay, where in the world _was_ she?

Ratchet tramped out of one of the base's various hallways for the umpteenth time, back to the main area where he had started. Eclipse hadn't been in any of her usual hideouts, and Ratchet was sure that he had checked all of them. He had already tried bribery ("If you come out I'll give you a belly rub!"), threatening ("I won't give you any more belly rubs today- no, for the next _week_ \- if you don't come out right this second!"), and even begging ("Please, Eclipse, I really have to get this done… Please, please, please just come out now…."). To his surprise, none of them had worked. He had even attempted the more scientific method of following the sound of her giggling, but with the all the echoing, he couldn't pinpoint where she was.

And anyway, she _had_ been rather quiet recently…

Ratchet shook his head again. This was getting ridiculous.

He decided that instead of just hoping that he would be able to find Eclipse - and then hoping that he would be able to catch her- he should just get what work he could get done while he had the peace and quiet. He had his welder, after all.

He turned to the table where he had set it down and froze in his tracks.

"Eclipse! The welder, too?!" He shouted. He really needed to have a word with that little bot.

Ratchet crossed his arms, wondering what to do now. He needed to finish welding before he could continue with tightening the bolts and sorting out the wiring. Now that welding wasn't really an option, he-

 _Tap, tap, tap._

The noise echoed off Ratchet's helm. He looked up to see a gleeful Eclipse hanging by her tail from the ceiling, with wrench and welder in tow.

"Eclipse!" Ratchet reached up and tried to snatch the wrench out of her grip. She yanked it away, but the welder she had used to tap him on the helm fell with a clatter to the ground.

 _One down, one to go._

Eclipse tumbled down from the ceiling, landing gracefully. Ratchet gave chase, but Eclipse quickly flipped and scurried away. He reached for the wrench, but Eclipse stopped, arching her back, and then hissed dangerously. "My shiny!"

"Oh, no, that's not yours!" Ratchet wagged a digit at her. "Drop it."

Eclipse smirked and dangled it from her servo tantalizingly. Then, with a wink, she scampered off.

"Gimme that!" Ratchet shouted, chasing after her. He swiped at her with his servo, but she danced out of his reach, his wrench clenched between her teeth. With a quick leap, she jumped up onto one of the base's computers as Ratchet grabbed at her pedes, hoping to knock her off balance. In his furious motions he hit a button on the side of the computer. Suddenly, the screens flashed red and a loud beep blasted from the failing software. Ratchet paused, slightly dumbfounded. Eclipse took the opportunity and made off with her stolen "shiny," giggling excitedly; however, Ratchet didn't exactly feel the same way.

"Eclipse! Eclipse! Oh, come on!" he roared, torn between getting his wrench and analyzing the state of the computer. He could hear Eclipse's fading cackles as she ran off down the hallway of the base. There was no way he'd be able to catch up to her now.

Dejected, Ratchet surveyed the damage. The screens were all black now; he probably just needed to reboot the system.

He commenced the reboot. The screens blinked on once, then turned back to black.

"Are you kidding me?" Ratchet groaned. Like he needed another thing to fix.

He slumped to the floor, tired of working, tired of things breaking, tired of running after Eclipse. Maybe if he waited long enough she'd simply wear herself out and bring him the wrench on a silver platter.

With a heaving sigh, Ratchet leaned back against the broken computers and shut his optics.

"Daddy?"

"Hm!" Ratchet awoke with a start. Two giant green optics filled his vision.

Eclipse blinked, and then giggled. "Did you fall asleep?"

"I was…. just taking a quick break," Ratchet said unconvincingly, standing up and stretching. He looked at Eclipse's bare servos. She must have hidden the wrench somewhere.

Eclipse raised an eyebrow.

"Listen," Ratchet started. "Y'know, the team's gonna be back from patrol soon, and when they are, I need to have this finished and cleaned up." He gestured to the mess they had made. Then, he knelt down to Eclipse's level, speaking slowly. "But to have it done, I need my wrench first. Can you _please_ go get it for me?"

Eclipse's expression changed from alert to guilty. She looked away, reluctant to tell him where she had hidden it.

She expertly raised her head so that her two big optics would look even sadder. Ratchet barely managed to refrain from giving in- those sad puppy-dog eyes usually got him. But with difficulty, he held strong, and said, "Go get it."

Defeated, Eclipse trudged down the hallway. She returned soon after with the stolen object clutched tightly in her servo.

Ratchet held out his servo, and Eclipse hesitantly placed the wrench in it.

"Bye, bye, shiny," she murmured, watching as Ratchet knelt down and once again resumed his work.

It hurt Ratchet's spark to hear that, and he immediately felt guilty. He sighed, standing up, and put the wrench on the table. "Come here," he called to Eclipse.

She did, albeit rather sadly, even as Ratchet picked her up and squeezed her in a big hug. "It's alright, Eclipse. Here, I'll even scratch you."

Ratchet scratched under her chin, and Eclipse couldn't help but let out a small purr. Ratchet laughed at that; and soon Eclipse joined in.

He then moved his servo up to pet the top of her head and scratched behind the part of Eclipse's helm that stuck out like little cat ears. They twitched as he moved his hand.

Suddenly, Eclipse's optics grew large as Ratchet's servo progressed.

 _Thunk-thunk-thunk-thunk-thunka-thunk-thunk._

Eclipse's leg began shaking, hitting the floor in a steady rhythm as Ratchet scratched. Ratchet tried to suppress a chuckle, but Eclipse's awkward expression and spastic leg soon became too much for him and he doubled over in guffaws.

"E…Eclipse!" he exclaimed breathlessly between bouts of laughter. "Eclipse… what was… what was that?"

Eclipse's faceplate was quite red by now, but she couldn't help but laugh along with Ratchet. "I… I don't know," she giggled, watching as Ratchet steadied himself, leaning on the computers. He shook his head, chortling.

Just then Team Prime pulled back into the base. They quickly transformed.

Arcee paused. "What's with you guys?"

Ratchet and Eclipse looked at each other, trying to suppress their laughter. "Well…"

Arcee raised an eyebrow.

"Alright," Ratchet said, watching as the other bots gained interest. "Come on, Eclipse, show them." He reached to scratch her behind the ears again.

"No!" Eclipse shrieked, giggling embarrassedly, noticing that all of Team Prime was staring at them. She dodged Ratchet's hand.

"Oh, come on, Eclipse!" Ratchet said. "It was funny."

Eclipse looked at Ratchet, then back to the team. She glanced back at Ratchet again, and then something caught her eye.

She dashed at the startled medic and leaped over him, grabbing the wrench off the table and fleeing happily down the hallway, laughing up a storm.

"Eclipse!" Ratchet complained. "Eclipse! Oh, not again!"

He sighed as the rest of Team Prime (excluding Optimus, of course) began chuckling.

"That worked out well," Arcee said. Behind her, Bulkhead snorted.

Ratchet gave her a look, and then shook his head, smiling wryly. "What can I say? She's spirited."


	3. Chapter 3: Boredom Bred the Troublemaker

"Ratchet, come in."

"I'm here, Arcee."

"We're making our way into the mine now. The place looks deserted. Are you sure you got the right coordinates?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Ratchet snapped, rolling his optics. "This is primary intel from a Decepticon datapad stolen _right_ from the Nemesis. It's spot-on."

Bulkhead's gruff voice came through on the comlink. "Well, it sure doesn't look like it."

"Look harder," the medic responded, leaning back from the bank of computers.

It was a relatively ordinary day for Team Prime- the fighters were out scoping a Decepticon energon mine in hopes of obtaining some much-needed fuel; Ratchet was stationed at base and talking back to Bulkhead over the comlink; the children were off at school.

But Eclipse was bored.

She sighed, kicking a piece of scrap metal that had been left on the base's floor. It was no fun being stuck here while the rest of the team got to kick Decepticon tailpipe.

At least she'd get to hear all about it when they got back. She knew exactly what would happen: Smokescreen would over-exaggerate the situation, like always. Then Bulkhead would join in with his vivid description, which was only a tad more realistic, but of course he'd be acting out the scene, too; then he'd accidentally swing his arm too far or jump backwards and end up breaking something of Ratchet's. The medic, in turn, would then shout his signature "I needed that!" and Bulkhead would do his best to apologize- though, Eclipse noticed, Ratchet didn't usually forgive him.

After that ordeal, she knew Bumblebee would eagerly whirr out his version of the fight, complete with some _very_ impressive sound effects. Arcee, meanwhile, would participate by sprinkling in sarcastic comments throughout the conversation. Wheeljack would provide the blunt truth, often times laden with expletives (including some Earth cusses Miko had taught him, which he quickly added to his arsenal), and Ultra Magnus - unable to condone any behavior unaligned with protocol, especially the behavior of Wheeljack - would criticize him. This, of course, would lead to a fight, and then Optimus would step in and say some beautiful, inspirational statement about friendship, and everyone would apologize.

But Eclipse really wished that once, _just_ once, she'd be able to do more than simply listen to the (awfully predictable, she noted) conversation.

"Daddy?" she asked.

"Yes?" Ratchet said, turning towards her.

She paused a moment, bracing herself for the ineluctable answer. "Why can't I go fight with the team?"

Now it was Ratchet's turn to take a moment. "Well," he said finally, in a tone of voice that confirmed her earlier suspicions, "it's not easy work being out in the field. Take it from me- I know what it's like, and there's a reason I'm not always out there fighting."

"Because you're the medic," Eclipse said, trying not to read between the lines, "And you're old."

Ratchet narrowed his eyebrows. "One, I'm not really that old. Two, don't pretend to not understand. You know exactly what I mean. You don't have enough experience to be out there."

"But I'm not going to get any more experienced stuck in here!" she complained.

"You're not much older than a sparkling, Eclipse. You aren't ready for the field."

"But-"

"You're _not_ going. And that's that." Ratchet finished, and he turned back around to the computers. Eclipse frowned, upset.

Ratchet immediately felt guilty. "Uh… y'know, if you want, you can sit on my lap."

Eclipse snorted and stalked off, her arms crossed.

Ratchet rose from his place, ready to go after her and cheer her up.

"Ratchet!"

He sighed. Eclipse would have to hold on for just a little longer. "Yes, Arcee?"

"Why in the AllSpark did you send us here?!"

"Yeah, Doc," Wheeljack shouted into his comm unit. "You f-in' tryin' to get us all killed?"

" _Wheeljack_!" Ratchet heard Ultra Magnus in the background.

Ratchet paused. "Is that a trick question?"

Bumblebee beeped a long series of noises into the comlink, angrily.

"What?" Ratchet said, surprised.

"He _said-_ "

"I _heard_ him, Bulkhead!" Ratchet snapped. "I was just exclaiming. That's all."

Wheeljack's voice came through again. "Well, you better make your explaining a little more helpful, 'cause we're gettin' creamed. What in the world are all these 'Cons doing here?"

There was silence.

"Sunshine? Doc? Ratchet?" Wheeljack asked. "That question was for you."

"Oh," Ratchet riposted, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Sorry, I didn't know until you said the _third_ name."

"Ratchet, this is no time for grudges!" Arcee yelled, her voice sounding a little more frantic now. "Do you have any idea why we're getting swarmed?"

Ratchet frowned, thinking. "I don't. They shouldn't have known we were coming. I mean, why would they?" He began pacing. "This mine's ready for pickup. You'd only need a guard or two, if that-"

He stopped suddenly. "Hold on for just a second."

He dashed over to the table with the datapad and picked it up. "Energon, energon, energon… _There!"_

He opened the folder and scrolled through the subcategories until he found one titled _Mines_. A little more searching led him to the file about the one where the team was at.

[Energon Mine 1141-9]

 _[-12° 6' 30.6108", -76° 56' 5.8524"]_

[Date found: 268 solar cycles post Megatron's return.]

[Description: situated in canyon area rich with plant life. Humans nearby but not on scene.]

[Area: 96.06174 mechanometers2]

[Depth: 50.465 mechanometers]

[Estimated pickup date: 301 solar cycles post Megatron's return.]

"301 solar cycles..." Ratchet mused, "And ready for pickup..."

He ran another search, confirming his suspicions.

"The 'Cons knew a datapad went offline," he started into the comlink.

"They knew?" he heard Smokescreen ask. "Then wouldn't they just shut it down?"

"That's what I thought. But it's certainly possible - especially now that the military is in the servos of Starscream, one of the most unpredictable 'Cons - they realized we took the datapad and they decided to _let_ us keep it. It was a risky gamble, but they predicted that we, as our need for energon is becoming increasingly dire, would use the information to go straight to the mines." He paused, taking a breath. "And this was the only mine scheduled for pickup anytime soon."

Optimus's strong voice rang out through the speakers. "So it would stand to reason that this was an intended ambush by the Decepticons."

Ratchet nodded, even though he knew the team couldn't see him. "Yes, it would."

"Primus forbid we ever get an easy win," Smokescreen groaned.

"Kid, I don't think those two words go together," Wheeljack said, his voice muffled by the metal guard covering his mouth. "It's a sh-tty world."

" _Wheeljack_!" Ratchet heard Ultra Magnus roar. "For the last time, is that _really-_ "

The line went dead.

Ratchet hunched over the computer. "Magnus? Ultra Magnus, sir?"

"He's out cold," Arcee confirmed. "A trooper came up behind him-" her words were covered by the loud sound of crunching metal. "I mean, I'm sure the guy regrets it now, but…"

"We gotta get him outta here!" Bulkhead's nervous voice came through in the background.

"Ratchet," Optimus started.

"I'm on my way," Ratchet replied immediately. "Someone's gotta help me carry Magnus back to the GroundBridge, though. I set up a remote for it, but I can't bridge anyone through in the middle of the battlefield."

"I'll do it," Smokescreen volunteered.

"Great. I'll be there in a sec," Ratchet finished, clicking the button to turn off the base comm.

He gathered his medical kit and was just about ready to depart when he noticed Eclipse lurking in the doorway. She opened her mouth to speak.

"You're not coming with me," Ratchet said. Her face fell.

Ratchet sighed, quickly walking over to her. "I know it doesn't seem fair. But today just isn't the day. I'll tell you what- next time the team goes out on patrol, I'll see if they can take you with them. That way you'll be able to learn what it's like, being out in the field. Then maybe someday you can finally go to a battle, okay?"

Eclipse averted her eyes, pouting.

"Okay, well, I really gotta go," Ratchet said, kissing the top of her forehead. "You know how to work the comms. If I need anything, I'll contact you."

She crossed her arms.

Ratchet gave a small, forced laugh. "Y'know, soon enough you're gonna take over my whole job!" He laughed some more.

Eclipse glared at him.

"All I have to do is teach you how to be a medic, and how to be the only reasonable one around here - well, excluding Optimus, heh - and then-"

Eclipse balled her servos up into little fists.

Ratchet froze, realizing he was only making things worse. "Okay, well, um, I'll be back soon!"

He pulled the GroundBridge lever and ran through, turning around one last time to see Eclipse staring at him with her lower lip component stuck out. He waved at her and then disappeared into the light.

The brightness faded, and Eclipse unfolded her arms and let out a big sigh.

She walked over to the computers, dragging her sharp, pointy digits over the metal, watching as they made teeny-tiny lines in the white paint. Then she leaned over the computer and waited for a transmission to come in.

Oh, but who was she kidding? This was no fun, and it never would be.

Eclipse spotted the same piece of scrap metal she had been playing with before and pounced on it, tearing into it with her claws. She whipped around and hit it with her tail, sending it flying across the room towards one of the monitors. She bounded after it on all fours, leaping on top of it, and then rolling on her back with it clutched in her claws. In the process, she bumped her helm on one of the devices.

She rubbed the back of her head as she sat up. There was a metal structure to her right; that must've been what she had hit herself on.

Her optics froze.

The structure was supporting a screen, green in color covered with a protective outer layer of rounded glass, no doubt a human contraption. But Eclipse was more interested in what was _on_ the screen.

Coordinates, still fresh and locked into the GroundBridge from when Ratchet had left.

A grin slowly spread across Eclipse's face as she rose from the ground, pulled the lever, and disappeared.

The light faded, and the base went silent.

Eclipse arrived on the scene… well, not quite _on_ the scene. She remembered Ratchet saying he couldn't bridge anyone directly into the warzone, but she didn't think it would be _this_ far away.

Her pedes sunk into the moss. She was in a vegetated area, rich with trees and vines, where the sunlight sparkled through the treetops and the jungle was dense. Cautiously, she reached her servo out and touched the rough tree bark beside her. Her optics followed a dewdrop as it rolled lazily off a leaf and fell onto her forehead with a smack.

It was so beautiful, so foreign, so untouched and natural- so unlike Cybertron. If this was what being out in the field was like, Eclipse knew she would do anything to be able to go with the team.

But she _did_ feel a little queasy after she turned in a circle and realized she had absolutely no idea where she was.

Eclipse strained her audio receptors, trying to pick out another sound amongst the chirps of birds and the rustling of leaves. She stood, still and silent, and listened.

There, faintly carried along by the wind, were the sounds of blaster shots and shouts and crunching metal. Things that were familiar to her, though she didn't know if that was a good thing. She immediately turned toward and followed the sound, skulking carefully through the forest.

Eclipse eventually found herself at a large cliff overlooking the battleground. The woods had cleared away somewhat, and their absence left her with an unobscured view of the fight. She saw Bulkhead first, after realizing that _he_ was the reason a Vehicon trooper had just been chucked across the scene; then she noticed Bumblebee, whose bright yellow color made him nearly impossible to miss. She found Arcee by her speed, and Wheeljack by a blue explosion, and Optimus after a giant red semi bulldozed a row of 'Cons.

Ultra Magnus, Smokescreen, and Ratchet were nowhere to be found.

Eclipse began to feel panicky. She stammered in breathy gasps, "Where- where-"

She forced herself to take a deep breath. Ratchet was probably just off to the side of the battlefield. Just because she hadn't found him yet didn't mean-

"Come on, Smokescreen, what are you doing? You're gonna make us drop him!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, so you _don't_ want my help?"

Ratchet and Smokescreen's angry voices sounded quite far away, but Eclipse couldn't describe how relieved she felt when she heard them. Ratchet was safe; that was all that mattered.

Their voices grew closer.

Eclipse's optics darted from side to side. There was no way Ratchet would be pleased by seeing her here, but the only way down from her position was the cliff. Of course, she could always just transform, but then there was the risk of being seen and shot down by the 'Cons.

She leaned over the edge of the cliff. _Maybe it won't be too bad._

Eclipse looked down again, her stomach tightening into knots. _Well, no day like today-_

Wait. What was with all that wind?

Eclipse jerked her head, looking around, until her optics fell on two airborne Vehicons racing towards her. "Scrap!" she whispered, searching frantically for an escape route.

She glanced to her left. That would mean running into Ratchet, who would undoubtedly send her straight back to base.

At her right was a thicket of jungle. A decent option, but one that could end up getting her hopelessly lost.

Up- well, only if she wanted to get stabbed by Decepticons.

And down…?

She looked over the edge of the cliff one more time and gulped. With her servos balled into fists, she got ready to-

 _BA-BOOM! BA-BA-BA-BOOM!_

"Got 'em!" Wheeljack shouted from below. "They should be thanking me for blowing 'em up- isn't desertion punishable by death?"

"Yeah," Arcee replied, dodging a punch. "A long, slow death. Probably at the servo of Starscream, too."

"Yikes. And I didn't even get a thank you."

"Well, that was because you almost blew us up!" Ratchet's furious voice crackled over the comm. "We nearly dropped Magnus on his head!"

"Sorry, Doc."

"It's Ratchet!"

Wheeljack rolled his optics and swung his fist, hitting a Vehicon square in the faceplate with a loud crash that jerked Eclipse from her unconscious state.

She sat up in a pile of rubble, dizzy from the explosion. All she remembered were the 'Cons coming toward her, and then a big, blinding flash of blue…

She blinked a couple times, and then shakily raised herself to a standing position. She was awfully close to the battlefield; in fact, she was quite surprised nobody had noticed her yet, standing off to the side in the debris.

Not that she was complaining.

She inhaled a couple of times, wheezing slightly because of all the dust in her throat. Steadying herself against the broken cliffside, she took a moment to regain her composure, heaving large breaths.

After she was satisfied that she was in good condition, she decided to construct her plan of attack. She knew the 'Bots had came here to steal some Energon, so she supposed she would try and accomplish that, too. The 'Cons didn't seem to pay her much attention (besides for that previous instance), and Team Prime seemed rather busy, so that was one - well, really, two - less things to worry about. If she could slip into the mine unnoticed, and then find her way through it, and then reach the pickup chamber without incident, and then snag a cube, and then find her way back out again…

Well, the 'Bots did it all the time. How hard could it be?

Eclipse stayed with her back against the cliffside and shuffled around the perimeter of the battlefield. She remembered Bulkhead retelling an instance like this, once- him and Arcee were pressed against an outjut on the Nemesis, posteriors smack up against the walls, trying to avoid being seen by Vehicons passing them in a perpendicular hallway. However - and Bulkhead had laughed wryly as he told this - his large form made it nearly impossible to hide from the 'Cons, and they spotted him right away. So, if Eclipse remembered correctly, the story ended with a dramatic car chase into an expertly timed GroundBridge courtesy of Ratchet.

Anyway.

Eclipse ended her centrifugal route at the mouth of the mine. A blue light shone from within it, though Eclipse was unsure of whether to peg it down as natural or eerie.

Not that it mattered. Either way, she was going in. Then Ratchet, Team Prime, and all of the Decepticons would realize that she was a force to be reckoned with.

So, with one last glance to the battlefield, Eclipse turned her back to the world of light and descended into the mine.

The mine was dark and sinister, pressing in on Eclipse with its dank, musty smell. As quiet as she tried to be, each step she took sent a small, pattering clank echoing off the rock faces. She paused, watching as a diminutive drop of water rolled down the uneven wall and splashed with a reverberation on the hard ground.

Eclipse gulped and resumed her descent.

Suddenly she tensed, whipping around. Were those footsteps?

She stood, frozen in a running position, listening with all her might. Perhaps it was just her paranoia. Who else would be down here? All of the Decepticon forces were currently devoted to fending off the Autobots. They wouldn't need any guards down here.

Eclipse relaxed, shaking her head as if to clear it of doubt. She was the only one down here. It was probably just her audio receptors playing tricks on her.

She continued walking, trying to be extra quiet just in case. There was nothing wrong with being too cautious, anyway. In fact, in case of-

She stopped dead. Those were definitely voices.

And they were coming _closer_ …

Eclipse looked left, then right, her breaths now shallow and panicky. Oh, which way should she be running? It was too echoey in here to tell where the voices were coming from!

"Hey you! You're not authorized to be in here!"

 _Scrap!_ Eclipse thought, unable to look away as the menacing silhouettes of the advancing Vehicon troopers.

"Uh…" she tried to think of a convincing lie. "I-I'm new here. M-Megatron needed some reinforcements, so he, uh, contacted me to help him out."

The Vehicons looked at each other. "Hey, did you know about this?" the one closest to Eclipse asked his partner.

"No, I had no idea," the partner shrugged. "Did you?"

"No," the first one said again, shaking his head. "Did you?"

The partner shrugged for the second time. "No- hey, wait, didn't you already ask me that?"

"Did I?" the first one asked. "Oh yeah, I guess I did. Whoops!"

Eclipse stifled a giggle. _This_ was the army Team Prime was worried about? They were so stupid, Eclipse couldn't imagine them being even remotely close to what one might call a threat.

The two 'Cons jerked their heads to face her. "Are you… laughing at us?"

Eclipse blinked. "Uh, no! Not at all, mister. No way."

The first Vehicon nodded his head in approval. "Okay," he said, and began walking away, much to the relief of Eclipse. "Have a nice day, newbie."

"Wait a second!" the partner called out. Eclipse's stomach dropped. "We can't just assume that she's with us. We have no idea if Megatron really called for her!"

"Sure you can," the first 'Con said, and Eclipse nodded vigorously in agreement. "She looks way too dark to be an Autobot."

The second guard studied Eclipse, who fidgeted self-consciously. "Well, yeah, I guess…" Vehicon #2 concluded. "But maybe you should comm Megatron just to be sure."

Eclipse's optics widened. "Comm Megatron?!" Vehicon #1 exclaimed. "I'm an underling. I can't just go and… comm _Megatron_!"

"Of course you can," the partner snapped. "It's important. He'll listen."

"If you want to know so badly, then why don't you just comm him yourself?"

"Because I thought you would be enough of a 'Con to do it!"

Eclipse slowly backed away, watching as the 'Cons fought, completely oblivious to her departure. Still facing towards the idiots, she backpedaled down a passage to her right. Once she was finally sure that she was okay, she turned around to face forward-

And came faceplate-to-chestplate with none other than Knockout.

Slowly, as if she was in some sort of nightmare, Eclipse lifted her head up until she locked optics with Knockout, one of the only 'Cons who knew who she was.

He smiled. "Fancy seeing you here, Eclipse."

The world went black.

"Well, well, well. Look what we have here."

Eclipse blearily blinked her tired optics open to see a fuzzy silhouette looming over her. "Wh… Who…?"

She gasped, the breath completely knocked out of her as the mystery person jabbed their pes into her stomach. She curled up over the wound, trying to stifle a sob.

"S-S-S-" she started.

"Almost there…" the 'Con said.

"Scorpio!" Eclipse choked out, clawing at the ground.

"Wh- what?" the voice sounded dismayed. "No, no, that's not it. Come on, I'm _very_ well-known."

"Ha!" Eclipse recognized Knockout's voice as he tried to suppress a laugh. "Sorry, go on."

The other voice sighed angrily and tapped its pes on the ground. "Really, Knockout. Do you want to get on my _bad_ side?"

Knockout slowly stopped laughing.

Suddenly it hit Eclipse. "Starscream," she breathed, the hatred creeping into her voice.

"There you go!" Starscream clapped, before muttering under his breath, "Took you long enough."

Eclipse blinked and tried to sit up.

"Oh no, we're not going anywhere, my dear," he said with a sadistic grin, placing his pes on her chest. He leaned down and smacked her across the faceplate, eliciting a yelp from Eclipse.

"Ooo," Knockout said with a smile, "We're getting to the main event now?"

Starscream looked up. "Indeed, Knockout. The poor Autobots can't _stand_ losing a precious one of their own," he said, gingerly lifting Eclipse's servo and wrenching it nearly out of its socket. "I thought, 'Well, we've done it with Cliffjumper. Let's do it again!'"

He glanced back down at Eclipse's furious face. "I didn't expect to be extinguishing _your_ spark today, though. Actually- I didn't even know you would be here! But, as they say, luck is a funny thing."

"They say that?" Knockout asked.

"Shut up, Knockout," Starscream hissed. "I didn't ask you."

Knockout merely rolled his optics. "Can we just get on with it, please? I said my main event line, but then you kept going on and on, and frankly, it's just kind of lost its effect now."

Now it was Starscream's turn to give an optic roll. "I was _improvising,_ Knockout. I'd like to see you try and do this: I bet you couldn't even- oh, never mind! I'm getting off track!"

Eclipse had one servo on her stomach and the other over her faceplate when Starscream finally snapped his digits at her. She tried not to whimper (in pain or in fear) as he spoke.

"Now, E- wait, it's Eclipse, right?" he asked, turning around to Knockout.

Eclipse raised an eyebrow. If Starscream wasn't so sadistic, maybe she'd be laughing right now.

" _Yes,_ Starscream, her name's Eclipse. I heard the old medic yell it out once when we were in battle," Knockout confirmed, putting one servo on his hip.

"Alright. Alright," Starscream said. He inhaled and paused, suddenly. "Oh, let me just start over."

Knockout groaned.

"Now, Eclipse," Starscream boomed, his voice echoing through the mine, "Prepare for your life - your _very short_ life - to be ended at the servos of _Starscream!"_

"Unoriginal," Knockout sighed, shaking his head condescendingly.

Eclipse tried to sit up again as Starscream came sauntering toward her. This time, she managed to scoot backwards on her posterior, lengthening the distance between herself and her executioner.

Starscream laughed maniacally. "Eclipse, my dear, don't prolong the inevitable," he said in a mocking, singsong voice. "I'm going to get you soon enough."

Eclipse noticed her breaths getting shallower, her servos beginning to shake. She pulled herself to a standing position, leaning against the wall as Starscream grinned.

 _Well, I'm not going down without a fight._

Eclipse balled her servos into fists and ran at Starscream. "What the-" he shouted as she tackled him to the ground, him screaming as she clawed at his optics. She pummeled his chestplate with her tiny fists, roaring with each hit. One of her punches landed right below his chestplate, causing Starscream to cry out. She stood up and stomped on his pedes, kicked his face, and nailed him right in the stomach with the point of her toe.

"This! Is! For! Cliff!" She shrieked with each movement. "This! Is! For! My! Family! This! Is! For! _Me!"_

She pulled her foot back and sent it flying forward with all her might, but at that moment, Knockout picked her up under her arms and chuckled slightly as she swung her limbs, to no avail. "Well, that's enough of that."

Starscream groaned. "Couldn't- couldn't you have done that a bit sooner?"

Knockout merely smiled. "Yes, I could've."

Eclipse, meanwhile, was suspended in his arms. She kicked and bucked and wrestled with Knockout, trying to get out of his grip.

"My, you're feisty," he remarked. With a grin, he tossed her to the ground.

Eclipse came up snarling, claws out, teeth gritted together, and ready for round two.

Knockout shook his head, sighing. " _Too_ feisty."

He whipped out a staff topped with buzzing electricity. Before Eclipse even knew what was happening, the staff struck her in the stomach.

She screamed louder than she ever imagined she could.

"Almost there," Ratchet said, checking a device on his arm as he tramped through the jungle, panting. "Maybe… half a klik to go?"

Smokescreen groaned, carrying the still-unconscious Magnus's head and shoulders while Ratchet tugged at his pedes. "Seriously. Why'd you have to-"

They stopped abruptly as an audio receptor-piercing scream cut and echoed through the area.

A moment of silence passed by. "Whoa," Smokescreen said finally. "You think that was one of ours?"

He turned to the medic. "Ratch- hey, are you alright?"

Ratchet's faceplate was frozen in a horrified expression, his mouth hanging open in a small, wide, "o." He tensed up. "N… No…"

Smokescreen stared at him. "Um… Ratchet?"

Ratchet blinked rapidly, pulling himself back to reality.

"Smokescreen," he snapped frantically, "I have to go. You take Magnus up to the return point -" he pulled the device off his arm - "And use this remote to bridge him and yourself back to base."

"Wait, what?" Smokescreen shouted as Ratchet dropped Magnus's pedes and sprinted off through the jungle. "Ratchet! _Ratchet!_ Where are you going?"

Ratchet paid him no attention, transforming and racing through the wood, dodging trees and roots and vines. His daughter was in trouble, he knew; she needed him.

And he would be there for her.

With a fantastic leap, Ratchet transformed back into bot mode and slid down the side of the blown-up cliff. Team Prime was exhaustedly fighting off the last of the Vehicons as he did.

"Hey, Doc, where's Magnus? What are you doing?" Wheeljack asked, watching as Ratchet plowed over two Vehicons.

Ratchet turned around frantically to face Wheeljack. He opened his mouth to explain, but just then, another scream came from underground.

"Eclipse!" Ratchet shouted, abandoning Wheeljack and dashing into the mine.

Optimus realized suddenly what was going on. "Ratchet, wait-"

"I'm sorry!" Ratchet cried, running deeper and deeper and deeper into the mine. "There's no time! She- she _needs_ me!"

Ratchet transformed into his vehicle mode and sped through the tunnels. He heard voices, getting louder as he neared them.

Unbridled rage boiled within him as he heard another scream. He took a sharp turn and then-

"That's _enough!"_ He roared, tackling Knockout from behind.

"D-d-d-daddy!" Eclipse murmured hoarsely, near tears.

Ratchet finally looked at her, covered in scratches and burn marks, lying helplessly on the floor. "E… Eclipse…" he whispered, horrified at the state she was in. He turned back around to Knockout, who was cowering in the corner over a scrape in his paint job.

"What did you _do_ to her?" he bellowed, looming over the shaking 'Con.

Knockout laughed nervously. "Um…"

Ratchet leaned closer to Knockout. "I said, what did you do to her?"

Knockout suddenly smiled. "Daddy!" Eclipse shrieked warningly.

 _CLANG!_

Starscream hit Ratchet over the head with a pipe from one of the Energon drills. The medic stumbled backwards, clutching a servo to his helm.

"Now, Knockout, you _really_ owe me one," Starscream said to his comrade, before twirling around to face Ratchet again.

"And for you…" he started. "I think I'll leave you for last, old man. I'd like you to watch as I rid the world of this- this _monstrosity._ " He gestured to Eclipse.

Ratchet moaned slightly. Narrowing his optics and steadying himself against the wall, he spoke, in a low, gravelly voice. "That's… my… _daughter._ "

He threw himself on top of Starscream and shoved him to the ground. He threw punch after punch after punch until his servos bled, kicked him until his pedes were sore, elbowed him until he heard the sound of a familiar diesel engine entering the mine.

Ratchet sat back from the fight, shaking slightly, as Optimus and the rest of Team Prime came into the cavern. Bumblebee looked around at the carnage and beeped, somewhat impressed by the old medic's skills.

"Thank you, Bumblebee," Ratchet replied quietly. He rose and walked over to Eclipse while the rest of the team secured Starscream and Knockout as prisoners.

"Eclipse," he sighed, kneeling down next to her. She averted her optics and braced herself for his reprimand.

Much to her surprise, however, Ratchet wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on the forehead. "Don't ever scare me like that again. Ever."

Eclipse gulped and nodded, holding back tears. "I- I won't, Daddy."

Ratchet picked her up, being sure not to exacerbate any of her injuries, and waited for the team to finish the cleanup. Then he carried her out of the mine, up the cliff, through the jungle, and all the way home.

Eclipse shut her optics, leaned her head on his shoulder, and fell asleep.

Eclipse awoke to the familiar sound of conversation. She sat up, still slightly dizzy from what had happened before. She noticed that Magnus was now awake as well, laying on a cot next to her.

"...And then, just when I thought there was no way I could get out of this, I leap up out of the way and the two 'Cons just go right crashing into each other!" Smokescreen chuckled proudly. Arcee rolled her eyes.

"Well, when _I_ was fighting, there was a whole line of 'Cons right in front of me," Bulkhead said. "And they didn't look like they were gonna move. So I grabbed the first guy in line and threw him straight at all the others-" he gestured, hitting the side of one of the computers- "and they all went down one after another like dominoes! It was pretty great."

Ratchet looked over at Bulkhead. Then his optics fell on the computer, which now had a large servo-shaped dent in it. "Bulkhead!" he cried, "I needed that!"

"Needed what?" Bulkhead asked, oblivious to the damage.

Ratchet pointed to the computer.

"Oh," Bulkhead said guiltily. "Oh. Sorry."

Ratchet rolled his optics.

Then Bumblebee began beeping, illustrating the fight with lots of whirrs and noises. Arcee gave a wry laugh. "Are you sure it happened _just_ like that, Bee? You sound as dramatic as Smokescreen."

Bee whirred defensively.

Wheeljack laughed. "Arcee's got a point. None of that s- happened like that."

"Wheeljack," Ultra Magnus said warningly.

Wheeljack turned to him. "Seriously, Magnus? You nearly got yourself killed because you were nagging me. Isn't that enough to realize that you should probably just f- off?"

"Wheeljack!" Magnus roared.

Just then, Optimus stepped in. "We had a long day today. You should all get some rest, my fellow Autobots. I do want to say, however, that despite your numerous obstacles, you all fought well today." He looked over at Eclipse. "You all did."

Team Prime turned to Eclipse proudly and began to clap. Eclipse blushed.

"Well, really, it was Daddy who saved the day," she said, looking over happily to Ratchet.

Ratchet ducked his head embarrassedly.

"But I still almost died!" Eclipse finished with a proud grin. The 'Bots laughed wryly.

Ratchet raised an eyebrow. "Eclipse," he said nervously, "That's not exactly a good thing."

Eclipse smiled sympathetically at him, her optics full of understanding. "Daddy, I can take it. You know I can."

And with that, she smiled, walked over to the recumbent Ultra Magnus, and asked him if there was anything she could do to make him feel better.

Ratchet bit his lip component and watched his daughter climb on top of Ultra Magnus like he was a jungle gym, gesturing and talking all the while. Ratchet suddenly found himself remembering what it was like when Eclipse had first joined the Autobots: she was so clingy to him he could barely get any work done. If he tried to leave her alone, she cried; if she thought he was trying to leave her alone, she latched onto his leg and wouldn't let go, no matter how hard he tried to shake her off. It was the least inventive period in his life.

Yet, somewhere in his spark, he knew that he missed it, and now he longed for it more than ever.

"Well, _she's_ grown up quite a bit," Arcee said, coming to stand beside Ratchet. They looked on as Eclipse politely stood next to the general, talking animatedly to him.

The medic gave a small cough. "Yes, yes, I suppose she has. Somewhat." He directed his gaze away from Arcee.

Arcee gave him a sideways glance. "Y'know, someday you're gonna have to let go. She's not gonna be your little sparkling forever. Kids grow up- all of them. And I know, that even though it's hard, you just have to accept that."

Ratchet pressed his lip components together, not meeting Arcee's gaze. He exhaled shakily. "I- I know."

He and Arcee watched in silence as Eclipse then promptly asked Magnus to scratch behind her ears (which surprisingly, he did) causing her leg to jerk and hit the floor repeatedly.

"Ratchet, come in."

"I'm here, Arcee."

"We're making our way into the mine now. The place looks deserted. Are you sure you got the right coordinates?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Ratchet snapped, rolling his optics. "This is primary intel from a Decepticon datapad stolen _right_ from the Nemesis. It's spot-on."

Bulkhead's gruff voice came through on the comlink. "Well, it sure doesn't look like it."

"Look harder," the medic responded, leaning back from the bank of computers.

It was a relatively ordinary day for Team Prime- the fighters were out scoping a Decepticon energon mine in hopes of obtaining some much-needed fuel; Ratchet was stationed at base and talking back to Bulkhead over the comlink; the children were off at school.

But Eclipse was bored.

She sighed, kicking a piece of scrap metal that had been left on the base's floor. It was no fun being stuck here while the rest of the team got to kick Decepticon tailpipe.

At least she'd get to hear all about it when they got back. She knew exactly what would happen: Smokescreen would over-exaggerate the situation, like always. Then Bulkhead would join in with his vivid description, which was only a tad more realistic, but of course he'd be acting out the scene, too; then he'd accidentally swing his arm too far or jump backwards and end up breaking something of Ratchet's. The medic, in turn, would then shout his signature "I needed that!" and Bulkhead would do his best to apologize- though, Eclipse noticed, Ratchet didn't usually forgive him.

After that ordeal, she knew Bumblebee would eagerly whirr out his version of the fight, complete with some _very_ impressive sound effects. Arcee, meanwhile, would participate by sprinkling in sarcastic comments throughout the conversation. Wheeljack would provide the blunt truth, often times laden with expletives (including some Earth cusses Miko had taught him, which he quickly added to his arsenal), and Ultra Magnus - unable to condone any behavior unaligned with protocol, especially the behavior of Wheeljack - would criticize him. This, of course, would lead to a fight, and then Optimus would step in and say some beautiful, inspirational statement about friendship, and everyone would apologize.

But Eclipse really wished that once, _just_ once, she'd be able to do more than simply listen to the (awfully predictable, she noted) conversation.

"Daddy?" she asked.

"Yes?" Ratchet said, turning towards her.

She paused a moment, bracing herself for the ineluctable answer. "Why can't I go fight with the team?"

Now it was Ratchet's turn to take a moment. "Well," he said finally, in a tone of voice that confirmed her earlier suspicions, "it's not easy work being out in the field. Take it from me- I know what it's like, and there's a reason I'm not always out there fighting."

"Because you're the medic," Eclipse said, trying not to read between the lines, "And you're old."

Ratchet narrowed his eyebrows. "One, I'm not really that old. Two, don't pretend to not understand. You know exactly what I mean. You don't have enough experience to be out there."

"But I'm not going to get any more experienced stuck in here!" she complained.

"You're not much older than a sparkling, Eclipse. You aren't ready for the field."

"But-"

"You're _not_ going. And that's that." Ratchet finished, and he turned back around to the computers. Eclipse frowned, upset.

Ratchet immediately felt guilty. "Uh… y'know, if you want, you can sit on my lap."

Eclipse snorted and stalked off, her arms crossed.

Ratchet rose from his place, ready to go after her and cheer her up.

"Ratchet!"

He sighed. Eclipse would have to hold on for just a little longer. "Yes, Arcee?"

"Why in the AllSpark did you send us here?!"

"Yeah, Doc," Wheeljack shouted into his comm unit. "You f-in' tryin' to get us all killed?"

" _Wheeljack_!" Ratchet heard Ultra Magnus in the background.

Ratchet paused. "Is that a trick question?"

Bumblebee beeped a long series of noises into the comlink, angrily.

"What?" Ratchet said, surprised.

"He _said-_ "

"I _heard_ him, Bulkhead!" Ratchet snapped. "I was just exclaiming. That's all."

Wheeljack's voice came through again. "Well, you better make your explaining a little more helpful, 'cause we're gettin' creamed. What in the world are all these 'Cons doing here?"

There was silence.

"Sunshine? Doc? Ratchet?" Wheeljack asked. "That question was for you."

"Oh," Ratchet riposted, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Sorry, I didn't know until you said the _third_ name."

"Ratchet, this is no time for grudges!" Arcee yelled, her voice sounding a little more frantic now. "Do you have any idea why we're getting swarmed?"

Ratchet frowned, thinking. "I don't. They shouldn't have known we were coming. I mean, why would they?" He began pacing. "This mine's ready for pickup. You'd only need a guard or two, if that-"

He stopped suddenly. "Hold on for just a second."

He dashed over to the table with the datapad and picked it up. "Energon, energon, energon… _There!"_

He opened the folder and scrolled through the subcategories until he found one titled _Mines_. A little more searching led him to the file about the one where the team was at.

Energon Mine 1141-9

 _-12° 6' 30.6108", -76° 56' 5.8524"_

Date found: 268 solar cycles post Megatron's return.

Description: situated in canyon area rich with plant life. Humans nearby but not on scene.

Area: 96.06174 mechanometers2

Depth: 50.465 mechanometers

Estimated pickup date: 301 solar cycles post Megatron's return.

"301 solar cycles..." Ratchet mused, "And ready for pickup..."

He ran another search, confirming his suspicions.

"The 'Cons knew a datapad went offline," he started into the comlink.

"They knew?" he heard Smokescreen ask. "Then wouldn't they just shut it down?"

"That's what I thought. But it's certainly possible - especially now that the military is in the servos of Starscream, one of the most unpredictable 'Cons - they realized we took the datapad and they decided to _let_ us keep it. It was a risky gamble, but they predicted that we, as our need for energon is becoming increasingly dire, would use the information to go straight to the mines." He paused, taking a breath. "And this was the only mine scheduled for pickup anytime soon."

Optimus's strong voice rang out through the speakers. "So it would stand to reason that this was an intended ambush by the Decepticons."

Ratchet nodded, even though he knew the team couldn't see him. "Yes, it would."

"Primus forbid we ever get an easy win," Smokescreen groaned.

"Kid, I don't think those two words go together," Wheeljack said, his voice muffled by the metal guard covering his mouth. "It's a sh-tty world."

" _Wheeljack_!" Ratchet heard Ultra Magnus roar. "For the last time, is that _really-_ "

The line went dead.

Ratchet hunched over the computer. "Magnus? Ultra Magnus, sir?"

"He's out cold," Arcee confirmed. "A trooper came up behind him-" her words were covered by the loud sound of crunching metal. "I mean, I'm sure the guy regrets it now, but…"

"We gotta get him outta here!" Bulkhead's nervous voice came through in the background.

"Ratchet," Optimus started.

"I'm on my way," Ratchet replied immediately. "Someone's gotta help me carry Magnus back to the GroundBridge, though. I set up a remote for it, but I can't bridge anyone through in the middle of the battlefield."

"I'll do it," Smokescreen volunteered.

"Great. I'll be there in a sec," Ratchet finished, clicking the button to turn off the base comm.

He gathered his medical kit and was just about ready to depart when he noticed Eclipse lurking in the doorway. She opened her mouth to speak.

"You're not coming with me," Ratchet said. Her face fell.

Ratchet sighed, quickly walking over to her. "I know it doesn't seem fair. But today just isn't the day. I'll tell you what- next time the team goes out on patrol, I'll see if they can take you with them. That way you'll be able to learn what it's like, being out in the field. Then maybe someday you can finally go to a battle, okay?"

Eclipse averted her eyes, pouting.

"Okay, well, I really gotta go," Ratchet said, kissing the top of her forehead. "You know how to work the comms. If I need anything, I'll contact you."

She crossed her arms.

Ratchet gave a small, forced laugh. "Y'know, soon enough you're gonna take over my whole job!" He laughed some more.

Eclipse glared at him.

"All I have to do is teach you how to be a medic, and how to be the only reasonable one around here - well, excluding Optimus, heh - and then-"

Eclipse balled her servos up into little fists.

Ratchet froze, realizing he was only making things worse. "Okay, well, um, I'll be back soon!"

He pulled the GroundBridge lever and ran through, turning around one last time to see Eclipse staring at him with her lower lip component stuck out. He waved at her and then disappeared into the light.

The brightness faded, and Eclipse unfolded her arms and let out a big sigh.

She walked over to the computers, dragging her sharp, pointy digits over the metal, watching as they made teeny-tiny lines in the white paint. Then she leaned over the computer and waited for a transmission to come in.

Oh, but who was she kidding? This was no fun, and it never would be.

Eclipse spotted the same piece of scrap metal she had been playing with before and pounced on it, tearing into it with her claws. She whipped around and hit it with her tail, sending it flying across the room towards one of the monitors. She bounded after it on all fours, leaping on top of it, and then rolling on her back with it clutched in her claws. In the process, she bumped her helm on one of the devices.

She rubbed the back of her head as she sat up. There was a metal structure to her right; that must've been what she had hit herself on.

Her optics froze.

The structure was supporting a screen, green in color covered with a protective outer layer of rounded glass, no doubt a human contraption. But Eclipse was more interested in what was _on_ the screen.

Coordinates, still fresh and locked into the GroundBridge from when Ratchet had left.

A grin slowly spread across Eclipse's face as she rose from the ground, pulled the lever, and disappeared.

The light faded, and the base went silent.

Eclipse arrived on the scene… well, not quite _on_ the scene. She remembered Ratchet saying he couldn't bridge anyone directly into the warzone, but she didn't think it would be _this_ far away.

Her pedes sunk into the moss. She was in a vegetated area, rich with trees and vines, where the sunlight sparkled through the treetops and the jungle was dense. Cautiously, she reached her servo out and touched the rough tree bark beside her. Her optics followed a dewdrop as it rolled lazily off a leaf and fell onto her forehead with a smack.

It was so beautiful, so foreign, so untouched and natural- so unlike Cybertron. If this was what being out in the field was like, Eclipse knew she would do anything to be able to go with the team.

But she _did_ feel a little queasy after she turned in a circle and realized she had absolutely no idea where she was.

Eclipse strained her audio receptors, trying to pick out another sound amongst the chirps of birds and the rustling of leaves. She stood, still and silent, and listened.

There, faintly carried along by the wind, were the sounds of blaster shots and shouts and crunching metal. Things that were familiar to her, though she didn't know if that was a good thing. She immediately turned toward and followed the sound, skulking carefully through the forest.

Eclipse eventually found herself at a large cliff overlooking the battleground. The woods had cleared away somewhat, and their absence left her with an unobscured view of the fight. She saw Bulkhead first, after realizing that _he_ was the reason a Vehicon trooper had just been chucked across the scene; then she noticed Bumblebee, whose bright yellow color made him nearly impossible to miss. She found Arcee by her speed, and Wheeljack by a blue explosion, and Optimus after a giant red semi bulldozed a row of 'Cons.

Ultra Magnus, Smokescreen, and Ratchet were nowhere to be found.

Eclipse began to feel panicky. She stammered in breathy gasps, "Where- where-"

She forced herself to take a deep breath. Ratchet was probably just off to the side of the battlefield. Just because she hadn't found him yet didn't mean-

"Come on, Smokescreen, what are you doing? You're gonna make us drop him!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, so you _don't_ want my help?"

Ratchet and Smokescreen's angry voices sounded quite far away, but Eclipse couldn't describe how relieved she felt when she heard them. Ratchet was safe; that was all that mattered.

Their voices grew closer.

Eclipse's optics darted from side to side. There was no way Ratchet would be pleased by seeing her here, but the only way down from her position was the cliff. Of course, she could always just transform, but then there was the risk of being seen and shot down by the 'Cons.

She leaned over the edge of the cliff. _Maybe it won't be too bad._

Eclipse looked down again, her stomach tightening into knots. _Well, no day like today-_

Wait. What was with all that wind?

Eclipse jerked her head, looking around, until her optics fell on two airborne Vehicons racing towards her. "Scrap!" she whispered, searching frantically for an escape route.

She glanced to her left. That would mean running into Ratchet, who would undoubtedly send her straight back to base.

At her right was a thicket of jungle. A decent option, but one that could end up getting her hopelessly lost.

Up- well, only if she wanted to get stabbed by Decepticons.

And down…?

She looked over the edge of the cliff one more time and gulped. With her servos balled into fists, she got ready to-

 _BA-BOOM! BA-BA-BA-BOOM!_

"Got 'em!" Wheeljack shouted from below. "They should be thanking me for blowing 'em up- isn't desertion punishable by death?"

"Yeah," Arcee replied, dodging a punch. "A long, slow death. Probably at the servo of Starscream, too."

"Yikes. And I didn't even get a thank you."

"Well, that was because you almost blew us up!" Ratchet's furious voice crackled over the comm. "We nearly dropped Magnus on his head!"

"Sorry, Doc."

"It's Ratchet!"

Wheeljack rolled his optics and swung his fist, hitting a Vehicon square in the faceplate with a loud crash that jerked Eclipse from her unconscious state.

She sat up in a pile of rubble, dizzy from the explosion. All she remembered were the 'Cons coming toward her, and then a big, blinding flash of blue…

She blinked a couple times, and then shakily raised herself to a standing position. She was awfully close to the battlefield; in fact, she was quite surprised nobody had noticed her yet, standing off to the side in the debris.

Not that she was complaining.

She inhaled a couple of times, wheezing slightly because of all the dust in her throat. Steadying herself against the broken cliffside, she took a moment to regain her composure, heaving large breaths.

After she was satisfied that she was in good condition, she decided to construct her plan of attack. She knew the 'Bots had came here to steal some Energon, so she supposed she would try and accomplish that, too. The 'Cons didn't seem to pay her much attention (besides for that previous instance), and Team Prime seemed rather busy, so that was one - well, really, two - less things to worry about. If she could slip into the mine unnoticed, and then find her way through it, and then reach the pickup chamber without incident, and then snag a cube, and then find her way back out again…

Well, the 'Bots did it all the time. How hard could it be?

Eclipse stayed with her back against the cliffside and shuffled around the perimeter of the battlefield. She remembered Bulkhead retelling an instance like this, once- him and Arcee were pressed against an outjut on the Nemesis, posteriors smack up against the walls, trying to avoid being seen by Vehicons passing them in a perpendicular hallway. However - and Bulkhead had laughed wryly as he told this - his large form made it nearly impossible to hide from the 'Cons, and they spotted him right away. So, if Eclipse remembered correctly, the story ended with a dramatic car chase into an expertly timed GroundBridge courtesy of Ratchet.

Anyway.

Eclipse ended her centrifugal route at the mouth of the mine. A blue light shone from within it, though Eclipse was unsure of whether to peg it down as natural or eerie.

Not that it mattered. Either way, she was going in. Then Ratchet, Team Prime, and all of the Decepticons would realize that she was a force to be reckoned with.

So, with one last glance to the battlefield, Eclipse turned her back to the world of light and descended into the mine.

The mine was dark and sinister, pressing in on Eclipse with its dank, musty smell. As quiet as she tried to be, each step she took sent a small, pattering clank echoing off the rock faces. She paused, watching as a diminutive drop of water rolled down the uneven wall and splashed with a reverberation on the hard ground.

Eclipse gulped and resumed her descent.

Suddenly she tensed, whipping around. Were those footsteps?

She stood, frozen in a running position, listening with all her might. Perhaps it was just her paranoia. Who else would be down here? All of the Decepticon forces were currently devoted to fending off the Autobots. They wouldn't need any guards down here.

Eclipse relaxed, shaking her head as if to clear it of doubt. She was the only one down here. It was probably just her audio receptors playing tricks on her.

She continued walking, trying to be extra quiet just in case. There was nothing wrong with being too cautious, anyway. In fact, in case of-

She stopped dead. Those were definitely voices.

And they were coming _closer_ …

Eclipse looked left, then right, her breaths now shallow and panicky. Oh, which way should she be running? It was too echoey in here to tell where the voices were coming from!

"Hey you! You're not authorized to be in here!"

 _Scrap!_ Eclipse thought, unable to look away as the menacing silhouettes of the advancing Vehicon troopers.

"Uh…" she tried to think of a convincing lie. "I-I'm new here. M-Megatron needed some reinforcements, so he, uh, contacted me to help him out."

The Vehicons looked at each other. "Hey, did you know about this?" the one closest to Eclipse asked his partner.

"No, I had no idea," the partner shrugged. "Did you?"

"No," the first one said again, shaking his head. "Did you?"

The partner shrugged for the second time. "No- hey, wait, didn't you already ask me that?"

"Did I?" the first one asked. "Oh yeah, I guess I did. Whoops!"

Eclipse stifled a giggle. _This_ was the army Team Prime was worried about? They were so stupid, Eclipse couldn't imagine them being even remotely close to what one might call a threat.

The two 'Cons jerked their heads to face her. "Are you… laughing at us?"

Eclipse blinked. "Uh, no! Not at all, mister. No way."

The first Vehicon nodded his head in approval. "Okay," he said, and began walking away, much to the relief of Eclipse. "Have a nice day, newbie."

"Wait a second!" the partner called out. Eclipse's stomach dropped. "We can't just assume that she's with us. We have no idea if Megatron really called for her!"

"Sure you can," the first 'Con said, and Eclipse nodded vigorously in agreement. "She looks way too dark to be an Autobot."

The second guard studied Eclipse, who fidgeted self-consciously. "Well, yeah, I guess…" Vehicon #2 concluded. "But maybe you should comm Megatron just to be sure."

Eclipse's optics widened. "Comm Megatron?!" Vehicon #1 exclaimed. "I'm an underling. I can't just go and… comm _Megatron_!"

"Of course you can," the partner snapped. "It's important. He'll listen."

"If you want to know so badly, then why don't you just comm him yourself?"

"Because I thought you would be enough of a 'Con to do it!"

Eclipse slowly backed away, watching as the 'Cons fought, completely oblivious to her departure. Still facing towards the idiots, she backpedaled down a passage to her right. Once she was finally sure that she was okay, she turned around to face forward-

And came faceplate-to-chestplate with none other than Knockout.

Slowly, as if she was in some sort of nightmare, Eclipse lifted her head up until she locked optics with Knockout, one of the only 'Cons who knew who she was.

He smiled. "Fancy seeing you here, Eclipse."

The world went black.

"Well, well, well. Look what we have here."

Eclipse blearily blinked her tired optics open to see a fuzzy silhouette looming over her. "Wh… Who…?"

She gasped, the breath completely knocked out of her as the mystery person jabbed their pes into her stomach. She curled up over the wound, trying to stifle a sob.

"S-S-S-" she started.

"Almost there…" the 'Con said.

"Scorpio!" Eclipse choked out, clawing at the ground.

"Wh- what?" the voice sounded dismayed. "No, no, that's not it. Come on, I'm _very_ well-known."

"Ha!" Eclipse recognized Knockout's voice as he tried to suppress a laugh. "Sorry, go on."

The other voice sighed angrily and tapped its pes on the ground. "Really, Knockout. Do you want to get on my _bad_ side?"

Knockout slowly stopped laughing.

Suddenly it hit Eclipse. "Starscream," she breathed, the hatred creeping into her voice.

"There you go!" Starscream clapped, before muttering under his breath, "Took you long enough."

Eclipse blinked and tried to sit up.

"Oh no, we're not going anywhere, my dear," he said with a sadistic grin, placing his pes on her chest. He leaned down and smacked her across the faceplate, eliciting a yelp from Eclipse.

"Ooo," Knockout said with a smile, "We're getting to the main event now?"

Starscream looked up. "Indeed, Knockout. The poor Autobots can't _stand_ losing a precious one of their own," he said, gingerly lifting Eclipse's servo and wrenching it nearly out of its socket. "I thought, 'Well, we've done it with Cliffjumper. Let's do it again!'"

He glanced back down at Eclipse's furious face. "I didn't expect to be extinguishing _your_ spark today, though. Actually- I didn't even know you would be here! But, as they say, luck is a funny thing."

"They say that?" Knockout asked.

"Shut up, Knockout," Starscream hissed. "I didn't ask you."

Knockout merely rolled his optics. "Can we just get on with it, please? I said my main event line, but then you kept going on and on, and frankly, it's just kind of lost its effect now."

Now it was Starscream's turn to give an optic roll. "I was _improvising,_ Knockout. I'd like to see you try and do this: I bet you couldn't even- oh, never mind! I'm getting off track!"

Eclipse had one servo on her stomach and the other over her faceplate when Starscream finally snapped his digits at her. She tried not to whimper (in pain or in fear) as he spoke.

"Now, E- wait, it's Eclipse, right?" he asked, turning around to Knockout.

Eclipse raised an eyebrow. If Starscream wasn't so sadistic, maybe she'd be laughing right now.

" _Yes,_ Starscream, her name's Eclipse. I heard the old medic yell it out once when we were in battle," Knockout confirmed, putting one servo on his hip.

"Alright. Alright," Starscream said. He inhaled and paused, suddenly. "Oh, let me just start over."

Knockout groaned.

"Now, Eclipse," Starscream boomed, his voice echoing through the mine, "Prepare for your life - your _very short_ life - to be ended at the servos of _Starscream!"_

"Unoriginal," Knockout sighed, shaking his head condescendingly.

Eclipse tried to sit up again as Starscream came sauntering toward her. This time, she managed to scoot backwards on her posterior, lengthening the distance between herself and her executioner.

Starscream laughed maniacally. "Eclipse, my dear, don't prolong the inevitable," he said in a mocking, singsong voice. "I'm going to get you soon enough."

Eclipse noticed her breaths getting shallower, her servos beginning to shake. She pulled herself to a standing position, leaning against the wall as Starscream grinned.

 _Well, I'm not going down without a fight._

Eclipse balled her servos into fists and ran at Starscream. "What the-" he shouted as she tackled him to the ground, him screaming as she clawed at his optics. She pummeled his chestplate with her tiny fists, roaring with each hit. One of her punches landed right below his chestplate, causing Starscream to cry out. She stood up and stomped on his pedes, kicked his face, and nailed him right in the stomach with the point of her toe.

"This! Is! For! Cliff!" She shrieked with each movement. "This! Is! For! My! Family! This! Is! For! _Me!"_

She pulled her foot back and sent it flying forward with all her might, but at that moment, Knockout picked her up under her arms and chuckled slightly as she swung her limbs, to no avail. "Well, that's enough of that."

Starscream groaned. "Couldn't- couldn't you have done that a bit sooner?"

Knockout merely smiled. "Yes, I could've."

Eclipse, meanwhile, was suspended in his arms. She kicked and bucked and wrestled with Knockout, trying to get out of his grip.

"My, you're feisty," he remarked. With a grin, he tossed her to the ground.

Eclipse came up snarling, claws out, teeth gritted together, and ready for round two.

Knockout shook his head, sighing. " _Too_ feisty."

He whipped out a staff topped with buzzing electricity. Before Eclipse even knew what was happening, the staff struck her in the stomach.

She screamed louder than she ever imagined she could.

"Almost there," Ratchet said, checking a device on his arm as he tramped through the jungle, panting. "Maybe… half a klik to go?"

Smokescreen groaned, carrying the still-unconscious Magnus's head and shoulders while Ratchet tugged at his pedes. "Seriously. Why'd you have to-"

They stopped abruptly as an audio receptor-piercing scream cut and echoed through the area.

A moment of silence passed by. "Whoa," Smokescreen said finally. "You think that was one of ours?"

He turned to the medic. "Ratch- hey, are you alright?"

Ratchet's faceplate was frozen in a horrified expression, his mouth hanging open in a small, wide, "o." He tensed up. "N… No…"

Smokescreen stared at him. "Um… Ratchet?"

Ratchet blinked rapidly, pulling himself back to reality.

"Smokescreen," he snapped frantically, "I have to go. You take Magnus up to the return point -" he pulled the device off his arm - "And use this remote to bridge him and yourself back to base."

"Wait, what?" Smokescreen shouted as Ratchet dropped Magnus's pedes and sprinted off through the jungle. "Ratchet! _Ratchet!_ Where are you going?"

Ratchet paid him no attention, transforming and racing through the wood, dodging trees and roots and vines. His daughter was in trouble, he knew; she needed him.

And he would be there for her.

With a fantastic leap, Ratchet transformed back into bot mode and slid down the side of the blown-up cliff. Team Prime was exhaustedly fighting off the last of the Vehicons as he did.

"Hey, Doc, where's Magnus? What are you doing?" Wheeljack asked, watching as Ratchet plowed over two Vehicons.

Ratchet turned around frantically to face Wheeljack. He opened his mouth to explain, but just then, another scream came from underground.

"Eclipse!" Ratchet shouted, abandoning Wheeljack and dashing into the mine.

Optimus realized suddenly what was going on. "Ratchet, wait-"

"I'm sorry!" Ratchet cried, running deeper and deeper and deeper into the mine. "There's no time! She- she _needs_ me!"

Ratchet transformed into his vehicle mode and sped through the tunnels. He heard voices, getting louder as he neared them.

Unbridled rage boiled within him as he heard another scream. He took a sharp turn and then-

"That's _enough!"_ He roared, tackling Knockout from behind.

"D-d-d-daddy!" Eclipse murmured hoarsely, near tears.

Ratchet finally looked at her, covered in scratches and burn marks, lying helplessly on the floor. "E… Eclipse…" he whispered, horrified at the state she was in. He turned back around to Knockout, who was cowering in the corner over a scrape in his paint job.

"What did you _do_ to her?" he bellowed, looming over the shaking 'Con.

Knockout laughed nervously. "Um…"

Ratchet leaned closer to Knockout. "I said, what did you do to her?"

Knockout suddenly smiled. "Daddy!" Eclipse shrieked warningly.

 _CLANG!_

Starscream hit Ratchet over the head with a pipe from one of the Energon drills. The medic stumbled backwards, clutching a servo to his helm.

"Now, Knockout, you _really_ owe me one," Starscream said to his comrade, before twirling around to face Ratchet again.

"And for you…" he started. "I think I'll leave you for last, old man. I'd like you to watch as I rid the world of this- this _monstrosity._ " He gestured to Eclipse.

Ratchet moaned slightly. Narrowing his optics and steadying himself against the wall, he spoke, in a low, gravelly voice. "That's… my… _daughter._ "

He threw himself on top of Starscream and shoved him to the ground. He threw punch after punch after punch until his servos bled, kicked him until his pedes were sore, elbowed him until he heard the sound of a familiar diesel engine entering the mine.

Ratchet sat back from the fight, shaking slightly, as Optimus and the rest of Team Prime came into the cavern. Bumblebee looked around at the carnage and beeped, somewhat impressed by the old medic's skills.

"Thank you, Bumblebee," Ratchet replied quietly. He rose and walked over to Eclipse while the rest of the team secured Starscream and Knockout as prisoners.

"Eclipse," he sighed, kneeling down next to her. She averted her optics and braced herself for his reprimand.

Much to her surprise, however, Ratchet wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on the forehead. "Don't ever scare me like that again. Ever."

Eclipse gulped and nodded, holding back tears. "I- I won't, Daddy."

Ratchet picked her up, being sure not to exacerbate any of her injuries, and waited for the team to finish the cleanup. Then he carried her out of the mine, up the cliff, through the jungle, and all the way home.

Eclipse shut her optics, leaned her head on his shoulder, and fell asleep.

Eclipse awoke to the familiar sound of conversation. She sat up, still slightly dizzy from what had happened before. She noticed that Magnus was now awake as well, laying on a cot next to her.

"...And then, just when I thought there was no way I could get out of this, I leap up out of the way and the two 'Cons just go right crashing into each other!" Smokescreen chuckled proudly. Arcee rolled her eyes.

"Well, when _I_ was fighting, there was a whole line of 'Cons right in front of me," Bulkhead said. "And they didn't look like they were gonna move. So I grabbed the first guy in line and threw him straight at all the others-" he gestured, hitting the side of one of the computers- "and they all went down one after another like dominoes! It was pretty great."

Ratchet looked over at Bulkhead. Then his optics fell on the computer, which now had a large servo-shaped dent in it. "Bulkhead!" he cried, "I needed that!"

"Needed what?" Bulkhead asked, oblivious to the damage.

Ratchet pointed to the computer.

"Oh," Bulkhead said guiltily. "Oh. Sorry."

Ratchet rolled his optics.

Then Bumblebee began beeping, illustrating the fight with lots of whirrs and noises. Arcee gave a wry laugh. "Are you sure it happened _just_ like that, Bee? You sound as dramatic as Smokescreen."

Bee whirred defensively.

Wheeljack laughed. "Arcee's got a point. None of that s- happened like that."

"Wheeljack," Ultra Magnus said warningly.

Wheeljack turned to him. "Seriously, Magnus? You nearly got yourself killed because you were nagging me. Isn't that enough to realize that you should probably just f- off?"

"Wheeljack!" Magnus roared.

Just then, Optimus stepped in. "We had a long day today. You should all get some rest, my fellow Autobots. I do want to say, however, that despite your numerous obstacles, you all fought well today." He looked over at Eclipse. "You all did."

Team Prime turned to Eclipse proudly and began to clap. Eclipse blushed.

"Well, really, it was Daddy who saved the day," she said, looking over happily to Ratchet.

Ratchet ducked his head embarrassedly.

"But I still almost died!" Eclipse finished with a proud grin. The 'Bots laughed wryly.

Ratchet raised an eyebrow. "Eclipse," he said nervously, "That's not exactly a good thing."

Eclipse smiled sympathetically at him, her optics full of understanding. "Daddy, I can take it. You know I can."

And with that, she smiled, walked over to the recumbent Ultra Magnus, and asked him if there was anything she could do to make him feel better.

Ratchet bit his lip component and watched his daughter climb on top of Ultra Magnus like he was a jungle gym, gesturing and talking all the while. Ratchet suddenly found himself remembering what it was like when Eclipse had first joined the Autobots: she was so clingy to him he could barely get any work done. If he tried to leave her alone, she cried; if she thought he was trying to leave her alone, she latched onto his leg and wouldn't let go, no matter how hard he tried to shake her off. It was the least inventive period in his life.

Yet, somewhere in his spark, he knew that he missed it, and now he longed for it more than ever.

"Well, _she's_ grown up quite a bit," Arcee said, coming to stand beside Ratchet. They looked on as Eclipse politely stood next to the general, talking animatedly to him.

The medic gave a small cough. "Yes, yes, I suppose she has. Somewhat." He directed his gaze away from Arcee.

Arcee gave him a sideways glance. "Y'know, someday you're gonna have to let go. She's not gonna be your little sparkling forever. Kids grow up- all of them. And I know, that even though it's hard, you just have to accept that."

Ratchet pressed his lip components together, not meeting Arcee's gaze. He exhaled shakily. "I- I know."

He and Arcee watched in silence as Eclipse then promptly asked Magnus to scratch behind her ears (which surprisingly, he did) causing her leg to jerk and hit the floor repeatedly.

Ratchet gave a small chuckle and turned to Arcee. "But for now, she's still my little Eclipse."


End file.
